In today's post, I want to chat all about toning your hair: what it is, why tone your hair, why it's not only for color-treated hair and my go-to products for keeping your color in check!
What Exactly IS Toner?
If you color your hair, you may have heard your colorist mention a toner, gloss or a glaze. They basically all fall under the same category. In short, toner is meant to counteract unwanted hues and/or enhance the color of your hair. Kevin Murphy Colouring Angels
Most commonly (and especially if you're a fellow blonde), you've heard of the benefits of using a purple shampoo to counteract brassy yellow tones as your color oxidizes. Purple shampoo = toner. Kevin Murphy Colouring Angels
Does Toner Change Your Hair Color?
Toners are made to alter the undertone of your hair color. Different from lifting with bleach or applying a color, a toner helps to manipulate the shade of your hair, making it cooler, ashier, glossier or even different colors like pink or purple. Kevin Murphy Colouring Angels
How Long Does Toner Last?
Most toners are semi-permanent, so the more you wash, the more you'll need to tone. Being a naturally dark brunette, my blonde tends to oxidize pretty quickly, meaning my ashy blonde quickly turns to a warmer blonde; that's where the toner comes in, bringing it back to that cool undertone that I want to maintain.
What If I'm Brunette or Don't Color My Hair?
While we typically hear about toners being used on blondes, there are also products out there for brunettes, and even for people who don't color their hair! These are called clear toners and while they don't really tone your hair color, they instead give you a restorative glossy shine.
How Do You Apply Toner?
Applying a toner is just like shampooing your hair. You can choose to mix it in with your shampoo, or use right after. I massage my toner into my hair, leave for about 2 minutes, then rinse and condition. The cool thing about toner is that you can choose to apply it all over, or you can focus on specific parts of your hair. For example, I never tone my ends because they are already white blonde.
My Favorite Toners
1. Fanola No Yellow Shampoo is my most-used toner. I use this about 2x a week to keep my blonde cool and bright. It works fast, so no need to leave it on for more than a minute, unless you have some really stubborn brassy tones!
2. Kevin Murphy's COLOURING.ANGELS line includes four color-enhancing shine treatments that add a lip-gloss like shine and tone the hair to enhance existing tones, neutralize unwanted tones, and improve color longevity without building up on the hair (kevinmurphy.com). The COOL.ANGEL does a great job at cutting out brass and the CRYSTAL.ANGEL is ideal for all hair colors to add a glossy sheen.
ICYMI, check out my most-visited haircare posts below!
Everything You Need to Know About Dry Conditioner
Everything You Need to Know About Tape-In Extensions
Loose Waves for Short Hair (watch it on IGTV)
